Concurrent Session

Jennifer Currence is a Senior Partner of HR Soul consultancy firm in Tampa, Florida, where she delivers results through strategic HR solutions, customized training, and coaching programs for organizational and HR leaders. She is the creator of The SOTO Approach to Leadership and the content architect for the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) international People Manager Qualification (PMQ).

Jennifer is regularly published and featured in industry magazines, webinars, and podcasts, and is the author of three HR books on behavioral business competencies.

Jennifer was named one of the top 100 Influential HR professionals in Leadership and Development in 2023 and Tampa Bay’s HR Consultant of the Year in 2017.  She is a faculty member for SHRM and a former management professor at the University of Tampa.

G. Riley Mills is an Emmy Award-winning producer and writer, and the co-founder of Pinnacle Performance Company. He is the co-author of the book The Bullseye Principle and was included in the list of "Top Leadership Speakers" by Inc. Magazine. He presented his TEDx session "Are We Killing Communication" at the Shanghai American School and has guest-lectured at such institutions as the Columbia University, London Business School, Manchester United, and The Royal Household at Buckingham Palace. Mills has written about leadership and communication for Forbes, Fast Company, and Inc. Magazine. 

Brigadier General (Ret.) Carol Eggert is SVP, Military and Veteran Affairs at Comcast NBCUniversal. She provides strategic leadership to all aspects of Comcast NBCUniversal’s programs and outreach to the military and veteran community. Carol completed her distinguished military career in 2014 as the Assistant Adjutant General for the Pennsylvania National Guard and the Deputy Commandant for the Army War College. She served in a variety of command and staff positions and completed numerous overseas deployments, including a 15-month combat tour in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as Chief of the Women’s Initiatives Division and Senior Liaison to the U.S. Embassy, Baghdad, and received numerous military awards and commendations, including the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart. 

Kasia Nowak is an associate in the San Francisco office. Her practice involves employment-related litigation, including defending employers against claims of discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, and other torts. She has represented public companies, private companies and individuals in a wide variety of employment matters, in both state and federal courts, and before various state and federal agencies. She has appellate experience, including handling cases before the California Court of Appeal, the California Supreme Court, and the 4th Circuit.

Kasia also advises employers on all aspects of the employment process, including hiring, developing employment policies and handbooks, and handling employee discipline and termination matters. In addition, she routinely provides sexual harassment and management training, as well as employee training.

Lora Haines is a high-energy, world-class facilitator, keynote speaker, and instructional design expert. She has over twelve years of experience in learning and development at world-class organizations like Walt Disney, and has designed and developed several of JB Training’s most popular workshops. Lora knows a thing or two about how to keep the modern workforce engaged: she focused her Master’s thesis on effectively retaining high-performing early career professionals. While flashy perks may be intriguing initially, she believes that dynamic leadership, a strong culture, and plentiful career development opportunities are necessary to retain star employees for the long haul.

Lora is a certified coach who is passionate about helping professionals reach their highest career aspirations. When she isn’t facilitating workshops, she develops engaging curriculum and consults global organizations such as Microsoft, Eli Lilly, Subaru, Spectrum Reach, and Publicis Groupe. Outside of the training room, you can find Lora cruising around town on her bike, supporting local restaurants, and spending as much time as possible near the beach.

LaFern Batie, MBA works with leaders to help them maximize their potential through effective leadership, developing compelling strategies, excellent execution and creating the exceptional experience. As CEO of The Batie Group, a boutique management consulting firm, LaFern is committed to creating practical, high-impact organizational solutions.

With a strong corporate and civic leadership track record, the value LaFern provides to leaders – including small business, nonprofit and Fortune 500 executives – helps them deliver what they promise to their customers through people, processes, products and services. Clients value the results her business strategy, leadership consulting, corporate training and professional speaking competencies help them achieve. With accounting, operations and human resources experience, she is a visionary leader with high business acumen and a commitment to excellence.

In addition to extensive professional coach training, LaFern is a published author and professional speaker. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Salisbury University, Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Maryland and a leadership certificate from Harvard University. She holds the SHRM-Senior Certified Professional (SCP) and Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) designations.

Dr. Edward E. Hubbard, President and CEO of Hubbard & Hubbard, Inc., an International Business Performance Consulting Corp. specializing in Business Improvement, Diversity Return on Investment (DROI®) Measurement/Analytics, and organizational development.  Author of more than 59 DEI ROI and Business-related books, Dr. Hubbard is an expert in Organizational Analysis, ROI Measurement, Strategic Planning, and more. Dr. Hubbard was an honoree at the Inaugural International Society of Diversity and Inclusion Professionals Living Legends of Diversity Award Ceremony in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico where he received the “Living Legends of Diversity Award” for creating the “Diversity ROI Analytics” and “Diversity Measurement Fields and their associated Disciplines” and is recognized globally as the creator of these unique sciences and fields of study. 

Dr. Hubbard received the “Excellence in Global Leadership Award” from the World HRD Congress (the highest individual professional award given), the 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award from The Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences, the Sentry Award from the U.S. Pentagon, and many others.

Dr. Hubbard serves on the Harvard Business Review, Diversity Executive Magazine and Strategic Diversity & Inclusion Management (SDIM) magazine Editorial Advisory Boards and serves on the Board of Directors for The Ohio State University African American Alumni Society. He also holds a Practitioner Certification and Master Practitioner Certification in Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), a Neuroscience discipline. Dr. Hubbard earned Bachelors, Masters Degrees from The Ohio State University and earned a Ph.D. with Honors in Business Administration.

Been there – done that!  With 30 years of HR and business experience – Lori has walked in your shoes.  A recovered HR Generalist, she built a consulting company that she sold to Arthur J Gallagher after 7 years and then reinvented her current business – HR Topics -  training, speaking and developing content for HR professionals.  Lori delivers facts, tips, tricks and best practices in a way that appeals to human resource and business leaders: with a sense of humor, a bias toward actions that improve their operations right away, and practical resources and tools to support their progress.  As an annual speaker at the National SHRM conference, she has leveraged her masters in HR, SPHR and SHRM-SCP background to elevate the position of all HR professionals!

Patti Perez is on a mission to transform workplace culture. She is the founder of PersuasionPoint Inc. and combines her experience as a licensed California attorney, a professionally-certified HR executive, a tech company leader, a specialist in the prevention and resolution of workplace drama, an expert witness in state and federal court, a state regulator and as an entrepreneur to create a revolutionary shift in the way we communicate and connect at work.

Patti is the author of The Drama-Free Workplace: How You Can Prevent Unconscious Bias, Sexual Harassment, Ethics Lapses, and Inspire a Healthy Culture (Wiley 2019), a one-of-a-kind, informative resource that explains what it takes to build and sustain an equitable, inclusive and healthy workplace culture.

James J. McDonald, Jr. is a partner in the Irvine, California and Tampa, Florida offices of Fisher & Phillips LLP, where he is a litigator, trial lawyer and strategic advisor to employers regarding labor and employment law matters.  He is author of the SHRM-published book, California Employment Law: An Employer’s Guide, and he is a frequent speaker on employment law issues.  He is a cum laude law graduate of Georgetown University and a member of the California and Florida Bars, and he holds the SHRM-SCP certification.